LND Circular Rebalancing with bos — Step-by-Step Guide

Circular rebalancing with bos (balance-of-satoshis) lets you move liquidity from an outbound-depleted channel to a depleted inbound channel. Here's how.

Install bos

npm install -g balanceofsatoshis

# Test connection
bos balance
bos nodes

Identify which channels need rebalancing

# See all channels with balance ratio
bos balance --detailed

# Or with lncli
lncli listchannels | python3 -c "
import json, sys
chans = json.load(sys.stdin)['channels']
for c in sorted(chans, key=lambda x: int(x['local_balance'])/int(x['capacity'])):
    ratio = int(c['local_balance'])/int(c['capacity'])
    print(f'{ratio:.0%} local | {c[\"local_balance\"]:>8} sat | {c[\"remote_pubkey\"][:20]}')
"

Rebalance: move sats from full channel to empty channel

# Basic rebalance: move 500k sats
# --in: channel that's too empty (needs inbound liquidity)
# --out: channel that's too full (needs to push out)
bos rebalance \
  --in PUBKEY_OF_EMPTY_PEER \
  --out PUBKEY_OF_FULL_PEER \
  --amount 500000 \
  --max-fee-rate 500  # max ppm you'll pay

# Dry run first (see fee estimate without executing)
bos rebalance \
  --in PUBKEY_OF_EMPTY_PEER \
  --out PUBKEY_OF_FULL_PEER \
  --amount 500000 \
  --max-fee-rate 500 \
  --dryrun

Find peer pubkeys

# List your channels with peer aliases
bos peers

# Or
lncli listpeers | python3 -c "
import json, sys
for p in json.load(sys.stdin)['peers']:
    print(p['pub_key'][:20], p.get('alias','?'))
"

Automate periodic rebalancing

# Add to crontab (rebalance every 6 hours)
crontab -e

# Run bos rebalance every 6 hours
0 */6 * * * bos rebalance --in <PUBKEY> --out <PUBKEY> --amount 200000 --max-fee-rate 300 >> /var/log/rebalance.log 2>&1

# Check logs
tail -f /var/log/rebalance.log

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